Statoil shuts parts of Mongstad refinery after leakage spotted

Norwegian oil company Statoil has informed that a naphta leakage was reported at 07.14 on Tuesday 24 October at Mongstad refinery.

Employees who are not part of the emergency organization at the plant were evacuated, and parts of the plant are being shut down, Statoil said. The Statoil emergency response organization has been mobilized and is handling the situation on an ongoing basis, the company added.

“We have notified the police, ambulance and fire departments according to our procedures, and continue notifying other public authorities,” Statoil said.

The refinery is the largest of the two refineries in Norway, with a capacity of almost 12 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

Oil for the Mongstad terminal comes in mainly through two pipelines from Troll B and Troll C and connected oil fields, and underground storage caverns can store up to 9.44 million barrels.

The oil from the giant Johan Sverdrup field will be brought ashore at Mongstad when production starts towards the end of 2019.

Update: Tuesday, October 24, 9:58 am CET

In an update on Tuesday, Statoil said that situation “was brought quickly under control” when a naphtha leakage was detected at the Mongstad plant. All the 108 people at the plant have been accounted for and no injuries have been reported.

At 09.02 on Tuesday morning it was reported that the leakage at the plant had stopped and the signal indicating that the danger is over was sounded. The cause of the incident will be investigated.